1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a scanning apparatus having a recycling styled automatic document feeder capable of stamping on documents after scanning of the documents, and a method of controlling the stamping position on the documents.
2. Description of the Related Art
Generally, there are known two styles of automatic document feeders. One includes a scanner at a fixed position which has the document sheets passing therethrough and is known as a pass-through type automatic document feeder. The other style is a page recycling type automatic document feeder in which a page is scanned by what is typically a moving scanner. Usually, the pass-through type document feeder is used for facsimile machines, and the recycling styled automatic document feeders are used for copier machines. Recent multi-functioned complex machines with a facsimile function and a copier function can use the recycling type feeder but it is also possible to use both types of feeders in the same device.
The process of transmitting a document by facsimile takes much longer than photocopying the document and often, an operator will leave the proximity of the facsimile machine in order to perform other tasks as the document is being transmitted. In order to indicate which pages of the document have been successfully transmitted, each page which has been successfully transmitted without error (or stored) can be stamped by a stamping device. The stamped pages are a quick indication to the operator that a page was successfully transmitted or stored.
Some newer high speed scanning devices permit an entire document to be quickly scanned into memory. However, this type of device can be costly because of the large amount of memory necessary to store digitized documents, especially when the information is stored as colored images. However, even in these devices, the stamping operation can be useful.
FIG. 14 is a sectional view showing a prior art multi-functioned complex machine including a pass-through type of automatic document feeder. In FIG. 14, the multi-functioned complex machine includes three functional sections; a document feeder section H having a pass-through styled automatic document feeder, a document scanner section I, and a printer section J. The document feeder section H has a mechanism for conveying document sheets to the scanner section I. The scanner section I contains the mechanism for scanning data on the document sheets, and the printer section J prints on pages and ejects the printed pages.
In FIG. 14, the document feeder section H includes a document table 101, pick-up rollers 102, a pick-up lever 103, a friction belt 104, feed rollers 105, a pair of transport rollers 106, a document feed sensor 107, a scanning guide plate 108, a pair of exit rollers 109, a stamper 110, a document receiving tray 111, an elastic member 112, and a white background 113.
The scanning section I includes a first mirror carriage 50, a second mirror carriage 51, a lens 52, a charge couple device (CCD) 53, and an exposure glass 54. In the printer section I, 55 is a tray for holding printed pages.
Documents to be scanned are set on the table 101 with the data side down. The document sheets are fed to the position between the friction belt 104 and the feed rollers 105 by pick-up rollers 102, and the bottom sheet is separated from the others at this location. The pair of transport rollers 106 drives the sheet to the position between the scanning guide plate 108 and the exposure glass 54. The document feed sensor 107 detects the forward and back edges of each sheet. The start and stop timing of scanning are decided by information from the document feed sensor 107.
A light source 50a located in the first mirror carriage 50 irradiates light on the data side of the document sheet. An image of the document is reflected off of a mirror 50b located in the first mirror carriage 50, off of a mirror 51a located in the second mirror carriage 51, and off of a mirror 51b located in the second mirror carriage 51. The light reflected off of the mirror 51b passes through the lens 52, and forms an image on the CCD 53. For the above-described operation, the first mirror carriage 50 and the second mirror carriage 51 are fixed and do not move. After scanning, the document sheet is stamped at a predetermined position by the stamper 110 and the stamped document is ejected to the document receiving tray 111.
Although the prior art pass-through document feeder illustrated in FIG. 14 has the advantages of having a stamper 110, it has a major problem in that if it is necessary to scan a document twice in order to transmit the document by facsimile to two different locations or to photocopy the document twice, the document must be scanned once and then removed from the tray 110 and placed back on the document table 101, thus making it impossible to automatically scan a sheet of the document after it has been scanned once and ejected.
FIG. 15 is a sectional view showing a prior art multi-functioned complex machine having a recycling styled automatic document feeder. Throughout the drawings, like reference numerals designate the same or corresponding parts and therefore, a description of previously described elements may not necessarily be repeated. In FIG. 15, the document feeder section H includes a document table 1, a pick-up roller 2, a pick-up lever 3, a friction belt 4, a feed roller 5, a relay roller 6, a document sensor 7, a transport belt 8, an exit roller 9, an assistant roller 10, a document exit sensor 11, and a receiving tray 12.
Document sheets to be scanned are set on the document table 1 with the data side up. The bottom sheet is sent to the position between the friction belt 4 and the feed roller 5 by the pick-up rollers 2. As the sheet travels around feed roller 5, its orientation is changed from data side up to data side down facing the scanning mechanism. The transport belt 8 drives the separated document sheet to a predetermined position on the exposure glass 54. When the separated document sheet reaches the predetermined position, the transport belt 8 stops, and the separated document sheet is scanned by the movement of the first mirror carriage 50 and the second mirror carriage 51. After scanning the separated document sheet, the transport belt 8 drive the separated document sheet to the document feed-out section including an exit roller 9. The exit roller 9 and an assistant roller 10 drive in order to eject the separated document sheet past a document exit sensor 11 to a document receiving tray 12.
Comparing the above two styled automatic document feeders, the recycling styled automatic document feeder is more convenient than the pass-through type automatic document feeder because it returns the scanned documents to an area near where they were first located. However, with the recycling style feeder, there are no known prior art devices which include a stamper as it is difficult to stamp the document sheet because of the location of the stamper being away from the scanner. Problems also result because the document conveying speed of the recycling styled feeder is higher than that of the pass-through styled automatic document feeder, making it difficult to control the timing of the stamping.